Chapter 1

Reincarnation

-Kakuto-

"Where...is this...place..."

Kakuto had woken up in a strange room.

The bed he was lying on was more comfortable than any bed he had ever slept on. Was it cotton? Or was it feathers?

He looked around the room he was in. It was fully white, not a speck of dust was visible to the human eye.

The room contained the bed he was sitting on, a white table and two white chairs.

Even though there were no signs of any light source in the room, it was still bright enough to see for unknown reasons.

He suddenly remembered.

"I was stabbed...my heart!"

He immediately checked the area around his heart to find the wound inflicted on his chest area.

"Gone..."

"Mmu..."

He heard an unusual voice. Looking down, he noticed someone was laying their head on his left arm.

From the looks of the hair, Kakuto assumed the gender of the person to be female. Her hair was light green. They were long and silky, with a nice scent coming from it.

The girl slowly rose her head and made eye contact with Kakuto.

Tears started to run down her eyes.

"I'm so glad you are alive, boy!"

Huh? Boy?

"Are you perhaps..."

Before he could finish his sentence, the girl embraced him with her small petite arms.

*Wahhh*(SFX)

The girl cried on his shoulders.

Being the gentleman he was, Kakuto let the girl cry on him while keeping a poker face.

Eh? Who is this girl? I'm sure that she called me 'boy' just now, so was she the granny? No way, she looks like she is in her twenties, so that's impossible.

"Ah, *sob* I'm so glad *sob* that you are *sob* alive..."

The girl spoke something while sobbing at the same time.

"Who are you?"

"Ah, *sob* sorry, I forgot to introduce myself."

The girl stood up and backed away from Kakuto by one step.

"My name is Aria. I am the goddess of another world, Ayashi."

Kakuto was shocked to find that she was a goddess. As he was an atheist, he did not believe that she was one of them. But, he did not retort by saying "I don't believe that you are a god."

He decided to test her to see if what she had claimed to be was the truth.

"Can you tell me the reason that I am here? Actually, what is this place?"

"This is a room which I had created."

Kakuto was surprised by her statement. Plus, she had said it casually, deepening the reliability of her claim of being a goddess.

"I see. Can you tell me what had happened to me in detail?"

If she was really a goddess, she would have known what had happened to him.

"Ah, before I talk about that, let me explain the current situation at hand."

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There were four goddesses in the world of Ayashi. The first, was Aria, the goddess of nature. The second, was Nebula, the goddess of water. The third, was Arsies, the goddess of fire. The fourth, was Levi, the goddess of wind.

The four of them were once humans, and were chosen to become the previous goddesses' successors.

Although the gods of this world had a very long lifespan, it was not infinite, thus the role had to be changed every millennium.

The four were so called the [Order of the Goddesses]. They were to govern over Ayashi and maintain the current state of it.

However, the war between the humans and demons, especially the battle between the Hero and the Demon Lord, had led Ayashi to ruin, transforming the once peaceful and lively Ayashi into a barren wasteland. Only a few countries were able to survive the disaster that was brought upon them.

Only 1% of the planet had remained habitable.

 Because the state of Ayashi corresponds to the power of the goddesses, they only had enough power to defend themselves and transfer to other worlds. Anything other than that was impossible.

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After investigation, the four goddesses had found the main cause of the battle between the Hero and the Demon Lord, the [desire seed].

It was made by the power of the first [Order of the Goddesses] as a gift to their creator, however it was lost in the process of its creation. It was then long forgotten by the world, until now.

It had the power to grant any wish to the person who planted it.

The Demon Lord wanted to use its power to rule over Ayashi, but the Hero did not want that to happen. Thus, the two began a conflict which had resulted in the war.

Because of this, the four goddesses had decided that the [desire seed] was too dangerous for it to exist in Ayashi.

Because many entities from other worlds may have heard of it, they wanted to find the [desire seed] as well for purposes like the Demon King. They decided to give the seed to someone who was worthy enough to use its power.

While searching for the right candidate, the four had to go against many forces from the outside world, be it other gods, devils and the like.

After a thousand years, they had stumbled upon a boy named Kakuto.

He was the only person they had encountered who loved nature so much and with his kind attitude and calm personality, he was the perfect person to hold the [desire seed].

Thus, Aria, the oldest of the four goddesses, went to earth to give him the seed.

As a small test, she transformed into an old granny and pretended to cross the road, but was having trouble doing so.

When Kakuto saw her, without hesitation, he immediately ran up to her and offered to help her cross the road.

She was touched by this kind of act, as she had researched the behaviour of Earth's inhabitants, and had concluded them to be selfish and greedy.

Thus, she gave him the seed without any doubts. (How gullible...)

As time had gone by, the four of them spectated the life of Kakuto. They were happy that they made the right decision of giving him the seed

However, they were surprised that there was an organization that knew about the [desire seed].

They were shocked to see them kill Kakuto so easily.

Arsies was mad at them and wanted to send divine punishment to the organization. Levi grew depressed from Kakuto's death. Nebula was expressionless, but traces of worth were stirring in her heart. Aria cried over flowingly, sympathizing with his cruel fate.

Then, something unexpected happened.

The tree that was planted with the [desire seed] had killed the men.

The tree then went into the house by transforming itself into a humanoid figure.

That figure touched Kakuto's heart and disappeared without a trace.

The four goddesses did not know what had happened to the figure. But they were sure that Kakuto was breathing again.

They heaved a sigh of relief.

They were glad that Kakuto was safe and sound.

However, that was not the case.

Kakuto was found on the floor unconscious by his parents. They were devastated at what had happened in their own home. The three men's dead bodies were found beside Kakuto and were retrieved by the police, which Kakuto's parents called for investigation.

He was sent to a nearby hospital and was hooked up to a life support, because they wanted him to owe them a favour. That way, they will be able to take the money tree from him.

The goddesses were relieved that his life was saved.

However, when Kakuto woke up, they could not feel the same usual feeling from Kakuto.

The Kakuto now was expressionless. There was no sign of communication between anyone who interacted with him, not even with his parents. Hostility against was also not detected.

He just stood there, staring at nothing, without blinking. It's was like he became a doll.

This was when the goddesses knew that something was wrong.

Thus, the most intelligent of the four, Nebula, came up with a theory.

Kakuto's soul was not present in his body, but rather it was taken over by the [desire seed]. It would explain the reason of why he was in his current state.

This caused more worries in the goddesses' minds.

However, only Aria was calm and collected.

Because of the power as a goddess, she had the title of [Soul Seeker].

The goddesses' titles do not follow the condition of Ayashi, so they were able to use them however they wished.

All the four goddesses had their own titles.

Nebula had [Sea of Knowledge], which increases her intelligence. Arsies had [Warlord King], which amplifies her physical and magical attacks. Levi had [Speed Breaker], which allows control over her speed.

Aria's [Soul Seeker] allowed her to freely interact with souls, thus she was able to drag Kakuto's soul into her world.

She was able to identify souls like how a computer was able to identify a product's serial number of the billions of it produced, so finding his soul was easy.

Then, she created a sub-space room, sacrificing some of her power so that Kakuto would be able to interact with her.

"Because of that, while waiting for you to wake up, I fell unconscious on your hand, ehehe..."

 "So, following your explanation, you are able to communicate with me because of your title?"

"Yes, which is why only I am able to talk to you now"

"That explains why the other three are not here. So, your names are Aria, Nebula, Arsies and Levi right?"

"Yes...?"

"I see..."

Kakuto was trying very hard to keep a poker face while laughing at the initials of their names.

"Anyway, changing the subject, we contacted the god of your world and apologized to him as we had brought your soul here without permission. Also, we are now investigating together with him about the organization."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because the [desire seed] is involved in it as well. Since we gave you the seed, you are a key factor in this investigation, especially because of the actions of the [desire seed] after your death. Do you remember the desire you had when you planted it?"

When Kakuto was planting the seed, he thought of treating it like it was alive, like someone who would accompany him through his youth.

When young he always thought that his parents were always engaged with their work, as they struggled to earn money. Thus, interaction with his parents was very little.

 He always wanted someone who would not leave him alone, someone who would protect him, someone who would love him.

Thus, he said to the seed,

"I will love you and protect you with my all, so love me and protect me as well."

"I see, that explains why the [desire seed] had kept your body alive."

"I see, it protected my body huh. So, moving on straight to the point, what am I supposed to do now?"

"Because both of our situations are in dire straits, I would like to offer a proposal."

"Ok, tell me"

"Our power is synced with Ayashi's condition, so if Ayashi is fully rejuvenated, we will have enough power to be able to send you back to your world. Of course, we will provide our divine protection and skills. Your skills would just be our titles, but with the same effect."

"That would just make me a cheat huh..."

"Well, you are going to save Ayashi, so it is common sense for you to have this much power."

"Are you sure this much is common sense? Poor common sense-chan..."

"Common sense-chan?"

Aria tilted her head.

"Ah, ignore what I said"

"So...is this proposal a deal?"

Kakuto thought about it for a while.

"If I went back, would I be able to meet my Lucy-chan?"

"Lucy...chan?"

"It's the plants name"

Aria had found Kakuto weird, but she kept it to herself.

"I see, well you are able to, but..."

"Ok, I accept."

"Alright then, because I have the [Soul Seeker] title, since you had become a spirit without a body once, I will be able to communicate with you if you pray to one of my shrines in Ayashi."

"Ok then."

Arias hands start to light up in a bright light.

"Kakuto, we are grateful for you to take up this task of rejuvenating Ayashi, we wish you the best of luck in doing so. Now go, our saviour..."

Kakuto was then surrounded by a bright light, and slowly his body dissipated into nothing.

Kakuto was successfully transported to Ayashi.

Aria heaved a sigh of relief.

"With this, Ayashi will be saved..."

A blue box suddenly appeared beside Aria.

Kakuto has been reincarnated as 'Yggdrasil'

"Eh?"